INTRODUCTION

Law is an important instrument of social engineering which is made to balance and

regulate conflicting interests. it can be defined as a body of rules and regulation

which are accepted as obligatory by a particular community or society. There are

three important keywords which validate the law; acceptability, obligatory and

sanction /punishment. Any law made must be acceptable by the community, there

is obligation to obey the law and finally punishment for breaking the law.

Labour law (industrial law or employment law) is that branch of law which deals

with the legal relationship between employer and employee or using the old legal

term between master and servant. It is the basis of existence and operation of all

institutions of employment, labour market, business enterprise, trade unions and

the state in its capacity as a regulator and employer of labour. It stems from the

idea of subordination of the individual worker to the capitalist enterprise. Its

relevance is abounding in our economic life, social and political life. Labour law

is a protective law meant to stem the selfishness, willfulness and egotism of

employer in the other hand to stem the laziness, indolence, tardiness, recklessness

and inertia of the employer. The sources of these laws are notably the received

English laws, the constitution, decided cases, collective agreement etc.

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Normally, the relationship between employer and employee arise out of contract

which is an agreement between two or more persons and enforceable at law. Under

the law, there are duties of employer to the employee and also the duties of

employee to the employer. This duties are ascertained from the express terms of

contract or be implied by trade practice. In this work, the duties of an employee to

an employer will be discussed. The sources of labour in Nigeria will also be

discussed.

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Duties of an employee to an employer

1. Duty to render personal service

2. Duty of corporation

3. Duty of obedience to legitimate orders

4. Duty to exercise reasonable care and skill

5. Duty not to work for a competitor (duty of loyalty)

6. Duty not to disclose confidential information

7. Duty not to accept bribes or secret commission

8. Duty of compliance with reasonable restraints of trade

1. Duty to render personal service.

This specifies that the employee must render personal services to the

employer. The employee is employed for a particular job which he must do

to satisfy his terms of contract. This also means that the employee may not

delegate his duty to another person without the consent of the employer or

employ a substitute to do his job for him, but where terms of employment

contain such delegation of duties and will not in any way cause any damage,

injury and negligence that could result to losses, it could be done.

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 This particularly possibility of delegation does not breach the employment

contract but for the interest of the job. In Express Echo V Tankot, the court

regarded personal services as the irreducible minimum in contract of

employment.

2. Duty of cooperation.

It is required of the employee to serve his employer in a faithfully and in a

loyal manner. The employee should cooperate with the employer, any

reasonable undertaking that may be carried out by the employer. This is

necessary, if it is in no way detrimental to the employee but as a strategy to

enhance organizational progress and development.

This implies that the employee must serve his employer faithfully and not

willfully do anything that can breach the masters undertaking. This was first

propounded in the cases Secretary of State for employment V ASLEEF. In

this case, ASLEEF was conducting a work to rule and argued that there was

no breach of contract as the employee were following the rule to book and

nothing more but the court of appeal judges ruled that the employees were in

breach of contract. It stated that if the employee took willfully act to disrupt

employers undertaking, that amounted to breach of contract.

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 Buckley LJ said that there is an implied term in all contracts that the

employees should service his employer faithfully and promote employers

commercial interest.

3. Duty to obedience to reasonable and legitimate orders

Obedience by a servant is paramount and very important. It is the bedrock of

master-servant relationship. An employee is bound by law to obey his

master’s legitimate and reasonable orders. Any act of disobedience can lead

to dismissal of the employee without notice. Any refusal by the employee

not to obey order amounts to breach of contract because the employer order

is the fundamental duty if the employee. As seen in the case of Turner V

Maso, where a domestic servant who had visited her sick mother contrary to

her masters order. The court held to have been rightfully dismissed in

consequence thereof. An employee can be dismissed for a singular act of

disobedience if the act is of sufficient magnitude.

The employee is bound to obey legitimate and reasonable orders, the

legitimacy of an order can be ascertained from the individual’s terms of

contract though some orders may not be in the contract of employment but it

may be reasonable. Employees are bound to obey orders not request. hHe or

she should also express flexibility.

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 Some orders may be legitimate but not reasonable as in the case of Ottoman

Bank ltd V Chakarian. The employer ordered the employee an Armenian to

stay in Constantinople where he had been previously sentenced to death. The

court held that the order was legitimate but not reasonable in the

circumstance and the employer was entitled to refuse to obey it.

4. Duty to exercise reasonable care and skill

The employee owes the employer a duty to take reasonable care in the

performance of his duties. The employer must render careful services and if

through want of care or negligence, he causes damage to employer, he is

liable to indemnify his employer or can also be dismissed. This requires the

employee to exercise care in carrying out his duties. He is also expected to

posses relevant skills to make him work proficiently. In the case Usen V

Bank of West Africa LTD, it was held that the defendants were held entitled

to dismiss the plaintiff, a bank clerk for negligence leading to loss of money

by the bank.

In some cases, the blame for injury or loss may not entirely be on the

employer, where the employers conduct is contributory to acts resulting to

injury or loss. Both the employer and employee are joint tort feasors and are

jointly liable for the servant’s negligence. In the case Jones V Manchester

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 corporation. A man went for a minor operation in a hospital and died as a

result of negligent administration of anesthetics. His widow sued the hospital

authority for damages. It was held that the hospital contributed to the

negligence by leaving an inexperienced doctor in charge without adequate

supervision.

5. Duty not work for a competitor (duty of loyalty)

The employer is bound by law to be loyal to his employer. Even though the

employee is free to do what he wants at his free time, he cannot work for a

competitor of his employer. An employee cannot take another job in his

spare time which affects his ability to perform his main job. This amounts to

breach of implied duty to perform his work with reasonable skills and care.

The employee has the option to resign his main job or be dismissed by his

employer.

This duty of loyalty in particularly affects importantly discovery or

invention by an employee. If an employee invents a product or substance

using the employer’s equipments, common law states that the employer is

entitled to benefits of the invention in equitable percentage. However, the

Nigerian Patent and Design Act 2004 allows the inventor to apply for the

patent of his invention but a provision in section2 (4) of the Act empowers

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 the court to apportion benefit between the employer and the employee but in

cases where an employee is in charge of innovation s in a company, he may

not benefit his invention because he was only carrying out his job. In the

case of British Syphon co. LTD V Homewood. Home wood was employee

by the company as their technical adviser; he invented a soda water

dispenser which he has never been asked to advice the company on. The

court ruled that since the invention was made when the defendant was I

plaintiffs employment, the benefits of that invention belonged to the

company

6. Duty not to disclose confidential information

This duty obliges the employee not to divulge secret or confidential

information entrusted to him provided that he has been informed that the

information is confidential. The law also states that employees should not

disclose confidential information acquired during his service to the employer

if the information can harm the employers undertakings. It went further to

elaborate that the employer has the duty not to disclose such information

even after the relationship with his employer has ended. There are two types

of information as seen in the case Faccenda Chicken LTD V FOWLER. Mr

fowler was a salesman who left Faccenda chicken to establish his own.

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 Faccenda chicken sued for damages relating to misuse of sales information

relating to prices and customers. The court dismissed the claim. The court

distinguished between two types of confidential information. (a)

information of high secrecy which should not be disclosed by an employee

even after the relationship have ended e.g. trade secrets and processes and

customer list (b) information which would amount to breach of duty if it is

disclosed when in service of the masters but not a breach after the

relationship have ended.

Where an employer wishes to protect secret processes, They are advised to

protect themselves by including clauses in the employee’s contract. Since it

may be difficult to prove that the confidential nature of the information was

sufficiently impressesd upon the employee.

7. Duty not to accept bribe or secret commission

The employee is only entitled to accept reward from his employer and is

implied not to accept payment from another source even if it will not

influence him. The employee should not ask for tips or bribe before carrying

out his legitimate function. The employee should also not try to extort

money from customers for him to render his services. In the case of Boston

Deep Sea Fishing and Ice V Ansell. The employee was accepting payments

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 for placing orders with a supplier and was receiving dividends from shares

he owned in another supplier of his employer. The court held that his

dismissal was justified.

8. Duty of compliance with reasonable restraints of trade.

The employee must comply with all reasonable restraints of trade. A

contract in unreasonable restraints of trade is illegal. a contract restraint of

trade can be defined as a contract whereby a person’s freedom of action in

regard to the way he will do business employ or be employed is

circumscribe. Restraints of trade are in three situations.

 Where the seller of a business agrees that he will not start a similar

business for an agreed time or within a fixed time.

 Where some competitor agrees to change similar price or to reduce

their output or their output or their sales (cartel agreement. Eg OPEC)

 In a contract of employment where an employee undertakes not to

engage in or be interested in any business competring with that of his

employee after leaving employment

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Sources of industrial law in Nigeria

1. Received English law

2. Constitution

3. Statutory regulation

4. Decided cases

5. Collective bargaining and collective agreement

6. Workplace notices and handbook

7. International law ( international labor standards)

1. Received English law (the colonial heritage)

The root of Nigeria judiciary system is based on the legal system the

colonial masters left behind. Nigeria was a colony of Britain for almost a

century, within these years, Britain introduced many things into the country

including education, health science, civilization and among it imposed their

legal system on us. This legal system included their labour laws. By virtue of

the court ordinance NO 3 of 1863 English law was introduced into its

colony Nigeria. Through this, the general principle of English law of tort,

contract, crime, land law, constitutional law, mercantile and commercial law

was introduced into the colony of Lagos and after the amalgamation of the

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 southern and northern protectorates. The law was extended to all Nigeria.

Though some of the law have been repelled and replaced with indigenous

laws. The relevance of English laws is still felt.

2. Nigeria constitution

The constitution of federal republic of Nigeria provides the blue print for

acceptable labour law practical in Nigeria in order to foster healthy industrial

relations in Nigeria. The laws are stipulated in section 16(2) of the 1999i

constitution and also in section 17(3) of the same constitution.

Constitution sources of labour law are those which guarantee certains rights

and freedom to workers such as the right to the dignity of the human person

section 34, right to personal liberty (section 35), right to fair hearing (section

39), the right to peace assembly and association (section 40), the right to

freedom of movement section 41 and the right to freedom from

discrimination (section 40).

3. Statutory regulations (legislation)

Statutory law is a written law set down by a body of legislature or by a

singular legislator. (in the case of an absolute monarchy). Before

independence in 1960, some of Nigerian labour law were enacted by british

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 parliament but after independence , Nigerian legislatures have enacted statue

that govern labour relations in Nigeria. Statutory provision create rights,

prescribes duties and obligation. Employers and employees are entitled to

rely on terms implied by statutes in respect of contracts of employments.

These statue which apply to individual contracts of employment includes

Act 2004, the trade unions Act 2004, the trade disputes Act 2004, the

workmen’s compensation Act 2004, the factories Act 2004, pension Reform

Act 2004, National industrial court Act 2000.

4. Decided cases

Rights duties and obligations of the employer are declared and enforced by

Nigerian court through judicial decisions. These judiciary decisions makes

the statutes relevant by interpreting and enforcing their provision. without

court decisions, the statutes are paper tigers. These decided cases constitutes

a variable source of labour law, numerous cases have been decided in

Nigerian courts which have given prowess to labour statues. Some of them

are ,B.A shitta VS federal public service, Ihezukwu V University of Jos.

Foreign decided cases are also looked upon when there is absence of Nigeria

decided case on a subject matter.

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5. Collective bargaining and collective agreements

Collective bargain involves the process of negotiation and of collective

agreements on the demands of workers concerning certain improvement in

the terms and condition of employer. A collective agreement is “agreement

in writing relating to the terms of employment and physical conditions of

work concluded between

a. An employer or a group of employers on the other hand

b. One or more organization, representative of working of working or

the lawfully appointed representative of any body of workers.

On the other hand under the trade dispute Act 2004, a collective

agreement becomes binding and enforceable with the approval of the

minister of labour and becomes part of the terms of contract by express

incorporation or by necessary implication. The purpose of collective

agreement is to settle of conditions of employment. Collective agreement

serves as a source of labour law since it provides rules which regulate

employer and employee relationship by incorporating the terms of the

collective agreement into the contract of employment. This is seen into

the case Africa continental Bank LTD Vs Moodika where the judge

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 stated that it is clear from or embodied into the conditions or contract of

services, it will be binding on the parties

6. Workplace rules /handbooks, notices and government orders.

Workplace rules, notices and government orders constitute a source of

labour. Labour law recognizes the fact that terms of a contract could be

made complete by reference to other work rules and notices. Thus, the term

of contract of service whether in a letter of appointment or in the conditions

of services are however subject to provision of section 7(3) of the labour Act

which allows the employer to refer the work rules that are not stipulated in

the terms of contract. Most employers supplement the contract wither further

directions known as work rules, notices, staff instructions, procedures,

facilities and employers rights.

7. International law (international labour standard)

Nigeria being a member of the international community is bound by

international treaties that impose an obligation to respect, protect, fulfill

labour and human rights.

The international labour standard (ILO) is the pre-eminent authority on

international labour standards. Nigeria is bound to obey international labour

laws, thus it becomes a source of labour law to Nigeria.

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 References

1. Employee duty to cooperation. 2007. Accessed from

https://www.lawhandbook:sa.gov.av/ch/8s02802.php

2. Duty of employers (2016). Accessed from

https://www.law360.com/article/37220/theduty-of-loyalty-for-employers

3. Okene, O.V.C. (2012). Labour law in Nigeria. Claxton and Derrick

Limited. Portharcourt

4. Statutory law (2016). Accessed from

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/sttutory_law

5. Employment and labour law. National open university of Nigeria .

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